How to Monetize Your Content

Episode 977: How to Monetize Your Content, with David Mammano

How to monetize your content? In this episode, David Mammano will discuss his secrets on how to monetize your content.

How to monetize your content? David is an expert on this topic because he turned his love for podcasting into something profitable. This could happen to you, too, so make sure to listen to the entirety of this episode and learn the secrets from the expert himself.

David Mammano is most recently known for being the host of The Gonzo Experience Entrepreneur Podcast. He is the author of business and college planning books, a TEDx speaker, a three-time Inc. Magazine 5000 Growth Company winner, and a professor at the University of Rochester.

He is a graduate of the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and also a graduate of the MIT Entrepreneurial Master’s Program (an executive education program offered through the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)), a board member for the Western NY Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a local board member for Junior Achievement. 

David’s most recent book Crash and Learn: Lessons in Business quickly rose to the top of the Amazon bestseller lists. His other books are Make Love in the Workplace, and 101 Things You Can Do to Become an Outstanding Young Adult.

During the last 25 years, David Mammano has been a serial entrepreneur – starting seven businesses from scratch. He now uses those experiences to interview the world’s most interesting entrepreneurs. Each interview is aimed at helping entrepreneurs be their best in all areas of their life.

As a prolific speaker, David is an internationally requested speaker at entrepreneurial, business, sales, and higher education events. David is most proud of his family in Victor, NY, including three children, Gianluca, Melania, and Alessio.

What you will learn in this episode on how to monetize your content:

• How David’s career progressed from entrepreneur to coach and thought leader, and what new opportunities and setbacks he experienced along the way
• How the challenges David faced taught him important skills and key business lessons
• How to monetize your content from something you’re passionate about
• Why focusing on helping others and adding value proved the key to David’s career pivot, and how David turned podcasting into his primary career focus
• How David has been able to monetize his podcast through sponsorships, and how he is rebranding and relaunching his podcast as “The Gonzo Experience”
• Why David was inspired to write his third and most recent book, “Crash and Learn: Lessons in Business”
• How in times of crisis such as the global pandemic, business leaders need to look for the opportunities and silver linings and work to avoid falling into negativity
• Why it is important to look for the lessons and the opportunity to learn when experiencing difficult situations and major setbacks
• Why David’s book “Crash and Learn” offers an opportunity to take the lessons David learned and apply them to your own challenges
• How David has learned to cut through the podcast noise and make his show stand out from the other 480,000 domestic podcasts
• Why the feedback David has received has often stemmed from people’s own internalized fears, and how he has pushed through and doubled down regardless
• Apply the steps on how to monetize your content to your business

How to Connect with David Mammano:

• Email: [email protected]
• Learn how to monetize your content by being part of The Gonzo Experience
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davemammano/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/avanti-entrepreneur-group/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/theGonzoExperience
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/DavidMammanoFan
• Twitter: @DavidMammano

Additional Resources:

• Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13
• Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/
• Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Listen to this related podcast on how to monetize your content, with Stephen Woessner

 

 

How to Monetize Your Content: Full Episode Transcript

 

Get ready to find your recipe for success on how to monetize your content from America’s top business owners here at Onward Nation with your host, Stephen Woessner.

 

Good morning. I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation, where I interview today’s top business owners so we can learn their recipe for success, how they built and how they scaled their business. And if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while now, you’ve likely heard me share with you several research sources, some examples and stories of how business owners, just like you, made progressive decisions during the last six recessions, they pivoted toward the silver linings that they saw and then they came roaring out the other side of the recession and in many cases, in far stronger positions than how they went in.

 

And far stronger positions than their competitors.  All because they had the courage to make progressive decisions. If you want to take a deep dive into some of the research, some of the examples, just go to PredictiveROI.com/Resources, and you’ll be able to access the full training where I shared all of it in full transparency along with the full slide deck.

 

Okay, so why am I bringing that up? One, because the training is very research based. I say all the sources again are full transparency. So you and your team can have all of that to review and digest. But it also connects to today’s episode. So for today, we’re going to spend some time with David Mammano, who is a four time alum here at Onward Nation and a business owner who exemplifies what I just described.

 

He has seen the silver linings in this recession. He has made the progressive decisions and as a result, seems to be very well positioned to come roaring out the other side of this recession. This discussion with Dave will make you think, and I’m quite sure it’s going to make you laugh. And above all else, the lessons, the insights and the wisdom that Dave shares will be helpful as you consider making your own progressive decisions.

 

Learn how to monetize your content by being part of The Gonzo Experience

 

How to Monetize Your Content: David Mammano’s Introduction

 

So without further ado, welcome back to Onward Nation, Dave. Stephen, let me tell you, I am so freaking honored. I can’t take it to be worthy of four times and onward. You have blessed me, and I’m very honored. Thank you. Well, Thank you. And the honors Rs. This will be a great opportunity for us to have a conversation around many things on our nation that are all things authority, whether we’re talking about a book, whether we’re talking about consistency in Dave’s podcast, where we’re also talking about silver linings and making pivots.

 

Because of the opportunities that, candidly, that Covid has given us, if we’re willing to look for those silver linings, albeit they’re a little bit harder to see. So sometimes it takes us some creativity. So we’re going to talk about some of those with Dave. But, Dave, before we do that, because it’s been even though this is your fourth visit, it’s still been a couple of years since your last one.

 

Probably, actually. Yeah, I know, it’s a crazy couple of years. So take us behind the curtain and tell us, bring us up to speed, tell us what’s new, and then we’ll dive in. yeah, definitely going to do that. I just want to express a feeling that I’m having right now if you don’t mind. You know like Tom Hanks and, and Steve Martin, and some of the other, hosts on Saturday Night Live.

 

They have the Five Times Club. Yeah. And so I feel like I’m approaching a very special club status with our nation. It’s a hallowed number. How many people have been on four times? Come on. There’s going to be, maybe a handful of us, right? It is actually handful. I think it’s six.

 

Wow. All right. Maybe we should start our mastermind group. Yeah. Okay. So for those of you that didn’t hear the first three episodes of our interviews, start out in ‘95. I launched a magazine for high school students called Next Step and we’re a massive success. My first entrepreneurial adventure was a home run.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Experiencing An Incredible Lesson

 

We expanded it all over the country. We became a multi-million dollar business. I was paying for things in cash, like houses and cars and rental properties. And I joke that I’m, you know, a 30 year old kid who’s thinking my poop doesn’t stink. and, now, remember, 95 print was still viable business 1995. And, and but, you know, as the digital revolution took over and print especially became no longer cutting edge technology.

 

And you know, I joke when I go to speak to students these days, you know, in high schools and colleges, I ask them, you know, do you know what a magazine is? Right? And, you know, half kidding, half not. And, so, you know, quickly my poop started to stink a lot as the digital revolution took hold.

 

And, my business, essentially went from very multi-million dollar business to less than a million within about two and a half years. And, you know, I made a classic entrepreneur mistake of just keeping the show on the road too long, right? Because I love the people. They were my family. I kept them on the payroll.

 

I love the industry. I like. We’ll find a way to make publishing work, you know? And, so,really, you know what? We’re going to get into it. I know, but my book is called Crash and Burn instead of Crash and Burn, and it was a very horrible experience.

 

But someday in some ways, it was an incredible learning lesson for me. Two of humility and business. Business skills. Right. And so we ended up putting everything online and I sold the pieces of it to someone in New York City who wanted a digital marketing business for teenagers. And then I moved on. I moved to different adventures.

 

That really didn’t work out that well. I tried to start an online school for teens. I opened up a retail center for teens that helped in college planning. I, you know, tried a lot of different things in that next step in the education world. But never really took off. So I ended up getting a call from somebody I had helped, about five years back at the time, who was calling to thank me for helping them to start a business.

 

And they said at the end of that phone call that, hey, Dave, you should really think about doing that for a living. And I said, doing what? And they said, you know, coaching people. Right. And I was like, oh, sounds great, you know? So I go, I think I could really identify with that, you know, use my highs and lows.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: The Love For Podcasting

 

My mistakes and my successes to teach people. So I started a volunteer, which means move forward in Italian, you know, similar enough to next step right out of the Italian, next step of Auntie. I started the Auntie Entrepreneur Network and we got that call in about four years ago. It was a coaching business. Then we started doing live events, as is a not only is a revenue driver, but also as a marketing tool for my coaching business.

 

Right. Had great live events. and and then because I met you at, Darren Hardy event years ago, we kept in touch and you were just getting your, your podcasting business going, and I signed up wi.tAndu and, you and Erik and the team, Catherine, etc.. Louis. Right. Got me going in podcasting. And it was October 2016.

 

Yep. And, you know, it was one of those moments where when I started doing it, you know, those moments when, like, the head split and, you hear music, I was like, I love this. I love podcasting, and, you know, I’m kind of, I don’t want to, you know, it sounds egotistical but, you know, I always loved being the talent right now.

 

Like, I love hosting events, right? I love writing books. I used to have a radio show. I love podcasting, right? And I’m just I feel like I’m in my zone when I’m doing it. So loved podcasting. And lo and behold, it’s the one thing I probably done in my life consistently every week for almost four years now.

 

Right. And, and, you know, it’s funn, I, Diana Fisher on my team, I would bring her in my team, you know, an idea a day, you know, and I’d get the rolled eyes a lot. Right? So, you know, four years, four and a half years ago and I brought her the idea that I’m going to start a podcast, and she’s like oh my God. Here’s another Dave idea that’ll have this energy is going to do it for two months. 

 

And, you know, well, you know, and she’s still impressed that I’ve done it every, every week. Right. And it’s because I love it and it comes natural. It feels great. I get joy from it. And when you get joy and energy from doing something, you want to do more of it right?

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Pivoting Your Business to Make It Relevant

 

So let’s fast forward now to, Covid right to when Covid starts, which in upstate New York here, everything shut down in mid-March. Right? Right. And so now I’m home. My core business of 70, which was in-person monthly events. We basically developed a monthly networking event for entrepreneurs. Right. You know, died. That was 90% of my revenue.

 

People were paying annual fees to meet once a month. And, so that died, right? We’re doing online events, but it’s never the same. And you never going to sign anybody up with what I was charging for an online event because they’re almost a commodity now, right? And, so I started thinking, you know, what am I going to do to pivot and make myself relevant and helpful and provide value?

 

Right now, I’m also at this time reading a book called The One Thing, by Gary Keller. of of Keller Williams real estate empire, which I believe is the biggest real estate company in the world. It is now they have overtaken Remax. That’s a great book. Yeah. life changing book. Life changing book. Because Gary talks about his own experience, how he was doing like eight things at once, you know, all of them.

 

Very mediocre when, you know, he went through a process where he decided to basically prune the rosebush and just focus on the one thing that he loved doing the most and that he was good at. Right. And his life changed, right? Everything. Look at him now. Look at the number one real estate, you know, company in the world, right?

 

Very competitive business. But he attributed to, you know, finding his zone of genius and maximizing it. And it really hit home. So it made me think about, you know, what am I going to do? What is my zone of genius? what do I love doing more than anything else? How can I, you know, the proverbial burn the ships behind me and focus on that one thing.

 

Learn how to monetize your content by being part of The Gonzo Experience

 

How to Monetize Your Content: Sell Advertising

 

And, it really came down to podcasting. I asked a lot of my friends, what is my one thing? What does I have a lot of? I’m so blessed with people, friends that truly care for me and I actually set up during Covid. I set up zoom meetings to talk about me and I was like, I was honest, oh, my guys, I need your help.

 

I need your feedback. Right? And, just, you know, I thought I was good at podcasting. I know I love podcast, but I wanted it to come out naturally about what did they think was my one thing. And sure enough, it was podcasting. They told me, like, David, the one thing that we love about you is your podcast, you know, and through the past four years, I have probably had a couple dozen phone calls out of the blue from lifelong friends and associates just telling me day, wow, why aren’t you doing this?

 

Like you’re only thing, you know, like, this is your thing. You know I’ve heard a theme of that over the years, but most podcasters are doing, you know, they’re doing five different things. And podcasting is one thing and it’s a marketing tool. But some people and, you know, it’s not a lot of people, but some people like make podcasting their living right.

 

It’s tough to do. Right. But a lot of things are tough to do. Right. There’s a lot of crowded spaces. Right? Someone’s got to win. Someone’s got to succeed. So I decided to go all in. one of my friends who gave me feedback, has done very well in business, and he actually decided to help me form a company and invest with me.

 

Okay. We did a lot of planning. A lot of planning about what? What is the determining factor of why, of how podcasts succeed if that’s all they’re doing. And, you know, so for us, it came down to the model. The model came down to advertisers and sponsorships. And, you know, that’s what I’ve done forever.

 

You know, whenever I had my magazine, I mean, all my products have always been free except for the membership group. And I would give out my content for free and sell advertising around it. So essentially, that’s what I’m doing. So, you know, through a lot of research, just really, you know, figuring out how many downloads I have to be able to sell advertising on my website.

 

Learn how to monetize your content by being part of The Gonzo Experience

 

How to Monetize Your Content: The Gonzo Experience

 

We found a company that what they do is they sell advertising on podcasts. Got to get to about 20,000 downloads for your podcast. Right. And once you’re there they’ll start to place ads on your site and then you know go to 50, go to 100,000. Right. Keep on going. And you know focusing on putting out great content but really also focusing on how can I get more downloads today, right.

 

How can I get more downloads today everyday. Have that mindset, you know? And so if you’re watching this, you could see my new logo here, where we’re rebranding and relaunching my podcast, which, by the way, has been called the Avanti Entrepreneur Podcast, where you know, my last episode is next week. And we’re launching what’s now going to be called The Gonzo Experience in the last week of September. That’ll be our first show. 

 

Okay. And what is the Gonzo Experience? So first of all, Gonzo is my name from college, right? We all, it’s my fraternity name. We all have fraternity names. I actually use them. And 30 years later, whatever it is, we still call each other by our fraternity names.

 

And they were. So they were such a strong part of our identity in college that if you met. Yeah, I went to University of Buffalo. Right. If you met a woman, you know, in your hometown of Wisconsin. And, she said that she graduated, you know, University of Buffalo in 1991, you may say, oh, do you know Dave Milano?

 

And she would say, I don’t think so. But if you said, oh, do you know Gonzo, she’d be like, oh my God, I love Gonzo. You know, like people knew me as Gonzo. And that’s always been my nickname since then. And, yeah. And gonzo journalism is, you know, being immersed in journalism to write the story.

 

Right. And so it kind of goes nice with what I’m doing is being immersed in entrepreneurship to be able to provide content about it. So, the new show is called The Gonzo Experience. And, you know, the whole idea of the Gonzo Experience is to, you know, bring it up a level to having these entrepreneurs really go deep and be vulnerable about their journey.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Learning From Experience

 

Right? The highs, but especially the lows, you know, in your podcast nation, you call it Behind The Curtain. I call it Crash and Learn. And it just telling them how telling everybody how they fell flat on their face. Maybe in their mind, there was no hope. But yet, they charged forward another day to rise like the phoenix and continue to have success.

 

Right. So why are those stories important? Do you think, for other business owners to hear? Well, there’s a couple reasons. You know, I interviewed a woman today and I said, oh, my God, this story was amazing. And she’s like, well, you think so? I don’t really think it’s a big deal. I go, well, that’s because you’ve lived it.

 

It’s been ten years and you got through it. Now, for someone who’s just starting out, maybe they’re, you know, an hour to an hour for a first couple of years here. Those stories are so impactful because they’re going through so much imposter syndrome, so much self-doubt, so many struggles. They’re in the boxing man, Mike Tyson. Right? And then they look at all these entrepreneurs that are successful and they see the quote unquote magazine cover that everything looks perfect, right?

 

Right. But, and then they start feeling like crap because they’re having problems, right? Right. And to be able to say, oh my God, Stephen Woessner, he had fallen down on his face too many times that just they’re happy for you. But that’s, it’s almost like, oh, phew. Well, comparison, comparison and creates so much guilt, anxiety.

 

It’s awful. Right. When we start comparing ourselves like our backup stage, which we know really well. Right. We start comparing that with somebody in front of stage and thinking, oh, there’s no way I can retain that. And the reality is that those stories behind the curtain, or as you like to say, Crash and Learn, are really valuable context because everybody falls. Everybody’s got the bruised knee and the broken arm and all of that. Right? Absolutely. 

 

And what did they learn from it? Right. What did they lack? Not only the inspiring story of how they, you know, got back up and kept on walking forward, but what did they learn from it?

 

Learn how to monetize your content by being part of The Gonzo Experience

 

How to Monetize Your Content: Helping Others with Lessons

 

And that’s the learning part. And once again, the lessons, you know, you and I, you’ve been out to nurse for a long time now. Right. And lessons to us that we learned. You know, I don’t know when it was ten years ago in high performance form with, Darren Hardy. Yeah. At that time, those are some pretty, you know, incredible lessons because we were younger in our entrepreneurial journey.

 

Right? Yes. Well, you know, some of these things are, you know, for us it’s like riding a bike. Oh, yeah. but you take it, you take an entrepreneur that’s just starting out and you’re able to share some of these learning lessons that to us are common and basic. But for them they’re brand new. And sometimes you say, I say something to a younger entrepreneur or beginning stage entrepreneur that’s so basic to me.

 

And I blow them away and I’m like, oh yeah, I gotta remember, like, they don’t know this yet. You know? And so that’s the joy, I think to it. Not only am I always learning, but the joy is just being able to help others with lessons. I mean, I get, you know, with the podcast, people would reach out to me, especially on LinkedIn, that I didn’t know.

 

And they would listen to my podcast and they would thank me. I kid you not about a couple months ago, I got a LinkedIn message from this young man from LA. And I’ve never been like, he goes, David, you send me a note. He goes, I have spent a lot of money on programs from Grant Cardone, Ed, my lad Tony Robbins.

 

And he goes, the lessons I learned on your last episode, your most recent, you know, your most recent episode have inspired me. They were so powerful. They’ve inspired me to finally quit my job and start a business. Wow. Your podcast is free. Yeah, I paid a lot of money for those. Other thing. And for me. Wow. You know, if I didn’t pay 100 bucks for this mic, I would want to drop it, right?

 

I mean, it’s it’s like warming my heart type of experience. Right? Is it those types of messages or feedback? Is that what inspired you to write? Because writing books. Not easy to to write, crash and learn like, was that the genesis or the push behind it? To a very large extent, I love writing.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Writing a Book

 

That’s my third book. I met a woman named Suzanne Doyle Ingram, actually, through you. She was on my podcast after she was on your podcast. So thank you for the connection. Sure. And we’ve been talking about writing a book for a long time, writing my third book. And, you know, listen, I was busy doing eight different things and I never got around to it.

 

And I started telling her about how on my podcast, what I get people to tell their Crash and Learn stories. It’s usually like the most impactful part of the interview. And she just goes, you know, she’s an expert in her field. She goes, you know, well, why don’t you just get like 10 to 20 other people who want to share their stories about crashing and learning?

 

And you each write a chapter and I was like, wow, so I can have my own book, but I only have to write one chapter. And she’s like, absolutely. She’s like, you know, you’re on the front cover because it’s, you know, the author of the collaborator. And but everyone else, you know, can say they’re your co-author.

 

Right. And the way this program works that she does is each author paid me to write their chapter, and be in the book. Wow. So these are business owners that always want to write a book. Don’t have time. But now they could. They have time to write chapter. And now they can say that they are co-author of an Amazon bestselling book and four categories.

 

Right. And, so they use it as I mean, we’re not going to get rich off the book. We’re not Stephen King, but, I actually make some money off the book. But they use it as a marketing tool, you know, as most people, most business owners do. You know, whoever, whatever company they’re working with, will write the book, especially if it’s self-published to use it as a marketing tool.

 

Learn how to monetize your content by being part of The Gonzo Experience

 

How to Monetize Your Content: Collaborating With a Team

 

Right? Okay. So let me make sure that I’m understanding correctly. So it sounds like the podcast and because you had the foundation of the Crash and Learn stories as part of episodes, that was the sort of the genesis, the kernel of the idea. Did the chapters actually come out of podcasts, interviews, or did each of the co-authors sit down and actually write a chapter?

 

And it didn’t have anything to do with an Avanti episode. So they all wrote their own chapter. So some of them were stories that they had told me out of. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. But then, they sat down, did their work of writing their own chapter. And I of course roll my own chapter.

 

And then, you know we, Suzanne has her team of experts, editors, etc., and they did the rest, right. My main job was right. My chapter and get the other authors, they did everything else I think what’s interesting here though is and we talked about this, you know, quite a bit either in Onward episodes or in our, you know, weekly emails and or newsletter and that kind of stuff in the fact that there are some silver linings to Covid.

 

And I’m not saying that we should celebrate those silver linings. Yeah, we’re in the crisis of Covid. I don’t want to be misunderstood there, but what I am saying is that as a business owner, you know, we’ve been dealt some cards, and if we look pretty hard, there might be a silver lining or two if, albeit it might take a little bit longer to see that because we’re in a stressful situation.

 

What I’m hearing from you, though, is that, you know, you’ve been super consistent with your thought leadership and your authority. You’ve been doing this now for the last four-plus years. And because you’ve been consistent in and really doubling down on that effort, it’s led to a book. Awesome. Is that hooked into your thought leadership on the podcast?

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Silver Linings During a Crisis

 

Yeah. Did you, like, take an episode turned into a chapter? No, but there are some journaling of that led to the book. Great. So what are some of the other silver linings that you have seen? You know, during this time of crisis, just being consistent over the last four years have helped you maybe kind of shift point of view, maybe help you see those when somebody else isn’t.

 

Yeah. That’s a great question because I think anybody who is successful in life has control of their mindset. Right? I think we’re ingrained naturally. It’s almost like we’re built to not be positive. Right. Because it’s easy to be negative. Right. Like, you look at our ancestors and they, you know, they almost had to be negative, right?

 

They had to look around like, am I going to survive today? You know, is a wild animal going to eat me in my sleep, right? I mean, you go back and like, they had to be, like, thinking of almost like, the worst case scenario because it was survival, right? Most of us don’t have to do that these days.

 

Right? But our brains are kind of programed to to be negative because it’s easy, right? It’s the default. It doesn’t take any work to be negative. It’s easy. Right. Yeah. But for those of you, me people that want to really suck the juice out of life, and look back at the journey and be like, wow, I got some bumps and scrapes and bruises, but what a ride, right?

 

And that they I don’t, you know, my biggest fear and I think I’ve mentioned this USB on my rocking chair when I’m old and having regrets that I didn’t try things. That’s my biggest fear, right, and it is to have those regrets. So getting back to your question about Covid my mindset was, all right, this sucks. You know, I mean, first and foremost, people are getting sick.

 

Some people are dying. the world is shut down. A lot of people are losing their jobs, their businesses. There’s some terrible stuff going on. Right? I could choose, you know, I can’t really control any of that stuff. Like is as wonderful as I think I am. I don’t have a cure for Covid, so there’s not much I can do about it.

 

Right. And so what can I do? I can control. I can control me. I can control my mindset. And so my silver lining was, you know, saying, all right, I’m going to view this as, as yeah, like you said terrible things, but I’m going to view it as an opportunity for me. You know, I have some time. I’m home a lot.

 

You know, for the first, what, two and a half months? I mean, upstate New York, we were, you know, Cuomo has closed, locked down hard for a long time. Right. So we’re home and I have a lot of time. I have a lot of time to think. And, that was my silver lining was just to get that pause, that forced pause to really, you know, think about, like, hey, what do I want to do when I grow up?

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Bouncing Back After a Crisis

 

You know, I’m 51 right now. How am I going to freaking kick some ass in the next 51 years? You know? And, you know what? What makes me feel numb when I think about it or do it and what makes me feel joy and energy when I think about doing it? And to have that time and that pause to be able to think about that, first of all, decipher that stuff, and then create a plan of action to kind of plan out my next 51 years, you know, and God willing, I’m going to get there.

 

I literally just visited my great aunt who, God willing, will be 104, in November. Amazing. She’s, you know, unfortunately, she’s in a nursing home and, you know, a visitor visits her from the window and outside, you know. But, you know, and so I view it as a time for me to really reflect and pause and think about who I am, my values, my talents. And it’s almost like a meditative time frame for me to think about what am I going to do going forward out of this.

 

You know, if I don’t grow out of a three-month pause, you know, shame on me. And then I will never grow if I can’t, you know, really get reflective about myself and a three-month lockdown, right? You know, so when I think about the perspective that you’re sharing here is, you know, you’re bouncing back or responding, I should say, bouncing back, responding in a super proactive and progressive way.

 

And here’s what I mean by that. But I’m going to tie that back to some of the history that you shared early on when you were talking about the next step and the shift to digital, that was a pretty tectonic shift and that was affecting not just obviously your business, but publishing as a whole. You know, in a wide variety of ways, industry-wide.

 

But that now gave you sort of the wisdom and the awareness of what a tonic shift looks like and what feels like. Right. And Covid is one of those things we’re getting into now, the conversation of, well, this is the new normal. Remember, like 44 months ago, we’re wondering, well, what the new normal is going to be.

 

It’s probably this. Right. And now you’ve had this time to think about it, okay? What is the one thing that I do really well? And then how do I double down on that? How do I take these God-given talents and really double down on that one thing? And it seems interesting because it’s like this past experience really taught you well, which I guess makes sense.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: The Big Event

 

Right? Crash and Learn and that is like this thread that goes through your entire story is really, really cool. yeah. I’m still here. Right? I’m still here. I’m still standing, you know, awfully like fine wine, right? I want to get better. You know. What? Did you know for people my age, you know, who remember, Joe Namath, you know, what did he say?

 

I can’t wait for tomorrow. Right now for him. He would follow it up with. Because I get better looking every day now. And I gotta say that. But, yeah, I can’t wait for tomorrow because hopefully, I’m going to be better tomorrow, right? Yeah. I think, you know, Brett Gilleland from entrepreneur, right? I don’t think so. No. Okay.

 

I thought I’d introduced you guys. So when he and I were talking about, like, challenges and crisis and that kind of stuff, I’m almost certain it was back. I shall be embarrassed if it wasn’t him anyway, but he said something to the effect of this.

 

There hasn’t been a challenge or crisis in your life that you haven’t survived. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here right? And I’m like, wow, that’s, you know, because we all get so caught up and in fear and nervous and panic and all of that, and with good reason. When it’s the tectonic shift and the plates are shifting underneath you and not really sure what we’re going to do Onward Nation.

 

But the point is that you haven’t experienced a big challenge, a big shift, a big crisis or whatever that you haven’t survived. We’re so much more resilient than we give ourselves credit for, right? Yeah, I have. I put up a lot of inspirational stuff on the wall. And, one of them was, you know, you’ve survived 100% of your worst days so far, right?

 

You got this right, you know, but that’s true, though, right? Yeah. You know, obviously, it’s true. Yeah. And you know what I have learned to say even and you may appreciate this, because you shared your crash moment with me years ago with the big event that, unfortunately, didn’t happen. And you learn from it big time, right?

 

And a lot of money. But what I learned is. And you were probably rightfully, you know, in that moment as it was happening, you were probably pretty damn scared, right? So, of course, you know, fear and we’ve all been there. Right? And what I have learned is, in my experience, the fear-like experiencing that fear is, is so much worse than when you actually go through the experience that you need to go through.

 

You know, like once you start going through the experience, you realize, like, you know, oh, I’m not going to die. And then it, you know, it’s not as bad as that anxiety and fear that was placed before it, you know. And it took me a long time to learn that, you know, but I think I’m there.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: A Learning Experience

 

Yes. Well, it does take time to get there. It takes maturity. It takes experience. It takes just, maybe some mentorship from people. We all get there at some point. For context, Onward Nation, Dave is referring to the $2 million mistake that we made. back during 2013, 2014, really kind of in the first three, four years of our business, you know, Predictive has been around for 11 years now.

 

But early on, we made a $2 million mistake. It cost us a lot of money and cash right out the door, not just missed opportunity. Super expensive. And so you’re right, Dave, I had many of those moments where I’m like, oh my gosh, we’re going to lose our business. And we obviously didn’t. You’re doing better than ever.

 

Well, but it was super, super hard. And we did have those fearful moments. But once we realized that, you know what, we still have a good core business. We got back to the business of building the business and yeah, it all worked out. But that’s where that’s why the Crash and Learn book that you wrote is why I think that that is so valuable and helpful, because it gives a healthy dose of perspective to readers.

 

Yeah, I agree, you know, you hit on the head because, you know, people get their MBAs and, you know, that’s great. But you know, you pay $2 million for your MBA, right? I mean, I think you have a real one-two. Right. But, you know, a lot of these creation stories, I mean, that’s the learning. That’s the true learning moment.

 

Right? You got $2 million, you know, additional MBA Stephen. Right. And you got to quote unquote share that with your team. Right. Yeah. I have and I do appreciate the learning that that $2 million in we’ll just call that tuition. It was really expensive too.

 

But you’re right. We will certainly never make that mistake again. And I would like to think that that wisdom has trickled into some other areas too, which is why I think that, again, your book, Crash and Learn, is really valuable perspective, because somebody can read the book and they may not have the exact same situation, but they can take a kernel or a golden nugget of wisdom and say, oh, I can see how this would apply to this, right?

 

Yeah, yeah. And listen, if we could, you know, shorten their learning curve that that’s helpful to, you know, lessons, you know, don’t always have to be experienced. They can be taught from others too. Right? So when does the Gonzo Experience as when you’ve rebranded the podcast. When does that launch okay. So we’re going to launch that the week of September 28th.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Making A Living with Podcasting

 

So last week in September, we’re going to launch it. And that’s what I’m, you know, the week before is when officially, all the boats are burned and, you know, that saying that there’s no going back, I’m jumping in nose first with, if you know my nose, that’s a huge undertaking. And I’m going for it.

 

And I got to tell you, people are like, you know, there’s a lot of people that are, you know, genuinely concerned for me, right? Because they’re friends. Because it’s very competitive to have you know, your podcast be your main thing, you know, and I appreciate that. I appreciate the fact that they’re concerned.

 

But you know, I’m also triggers me in a way to say, well, thank you for that. Let me show you how I’m going to do it. And what are their concerns? And have they gone down that path before. So they have valuable experience they’re trying to share or are they on the sidelines?

 

Have never attempted it before. And they’re saying we’re concerned even though they don’t have context. The latter, the people that I’ve said that have not been in the podcasting business, but they know, you know, they’re in the media world so they know that I, you know, maybe, you know, the exact number, but how many podcasts are there?

 

800,000. Well, the last count that I saw on domestic U.S. 480,000. Okay. So let’s say it was about 500,000 podcasts in the world. Okay. Our domestic, you said so, you know. But you know what? I think you and Erik told me years ago that the average podcaster last 12 episodes. Right? And, you know, frankly, a lot of my success has just been the compound effect of me doing it every week.

 

Right. And, frankly, I feel like I’m in my zone of genius when I’m doing a podcast, I really do. I love it, and I know I’ve heard that from other people, too. And so someone’s got to win. Someone’s got to be in the top 10% of podcasting of those 500,000 and make a nice living doing podcasting.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: The Man in the Arena

 

So, if I’m focused enough, clear enough, and have the end zone in mind of like, where am I going with this and have something super, hyper to focus on, then I will succeed. Have you heard the, my guest is. You have. But have you heard the man in the arena quote from Theodore Roosevelt?

 

You know, I have but if you want to say it again, I would be very happy. Well, it’s a little long, but I’m going to read it to you because it’s super relevant to, you know, what you’re sharing here with Onward Nation. But first, the reason why that really gets under my skin, as far as getting advice from people who don’t have context, is I’ve experienced that too when we’ve talked about hiring new teammates and that kind of stuff.

 

And you bump into somebody like maybe a family member or friend, they’ve never owned a business before you, you’re like, oh, super excited. We’re going to hire three people. Oh, do you really think you should be doing that? I don’t know, that seems like a big risk. And then it’s like so then my response to that is really so like when you’ve struggled to make payroll and that kind of stuff, how did you get through that?

 

Oh well, I’ve never I think we’re done. Yeah. Yes, I think we’re done. Right. Yep. okay. So here’s onward. Here’s a quote from, Theodore Roosevelt. It’s entitled The Man in the Arena. It’s been really popularized by Brené Brown and some of the brilliant books that she has written. But this really speaks to the feedback that Dave is receiving.

 

So keep it in perspective. This should be great motivation for you. Okay, so the man in the arena, it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man’s stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strive, who strives valiantly, who airs, who comes out short again and again.

 

Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds? Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement? And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

 

Wow. Wise words by Teddy. you know, I mean, they physically, those words physically affect me. Of course. I mean, I the entrepreneur right there. I literally have goosebumps when you just hearing those words, you know, because it’s the core I think of an entrepreneur. Right. I think sometimes when somebody tries to give us feedback, it’s really indicative of their own fears and their own insecurities.

 

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How to Monetize Your Content: Don’t Make Regrets in Life

 

And I’ve gotten to the point where I feel this I don’t want to say this because, you know, I don’t want to offend somebody who, you know, is trying to care for me. But I feel this way when somebody gives me advice and they have no context inside, I’m thinking, how dare you.

 

Right. It’s like if you haven’t as Teddy said, if you haven’t tried it and if you’ve not been successful at it just keep it to yourself. Yeah. Let it trigger you to prove them wrong. Right. Amen. So that’s you know it’s encouraging that you’re going down this path that you’re deciding to double down on your God given talent.

 

You are great at it. Thank you. And right back at you. Well, thank you my friend. But it’s awesome. So okay, I know that we’ve covered a lot. But before we go, before we close out and say goodbye, any final advice that you like to share with us Onward Nation? And then please tell them the best way to connect with you.

 

Well, it’s hard to follow up Teddy Roosevelt with advice, but that being said, you know, on that same vein, don’t let don’t let fear hold you back. I think it’s the most common thing that, keeps people from achieving true greatness in their life, and following their dreams. Right. I think there’s a lot of people that get to age 50, 60, 70, and, they have a lot of regrets.

 

Like, why didn’t I try that? Why didn’t I go for it? You know? I mean, and now they’re saying, you know, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. You know, we talked about that. Hey, I’m so alive, right? And so realize that fear is fake. It’s like something that we invent in our head, and it doesn’t need to be there.

 

And I would just say, go for it, you know. Swing for the fence like Babe Ruth did. Babe Ruth struck out more than anybody else because he was the strikeout king. He really was. But we don’t know him as a strikeout king, because, man, when he hit that ball, it went out of the park.

 

That’s why we know him as the Great Bambino, the homerun king. Right. And so, swing for the fans. Go for it. And you know what? If it doesn’t work out perfectly, you know it and it probably won’t. That’s okay. Try again, swing again, get better and experience the joy of walking down that path, of following your dreams, you know?

 

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[H3] How to Monetize Your Content: Connect with David

 

And you’re probably in the top 1% of the world’s population if you’re willing to do that. That’s what I would say. So, hey, if people want to contact me, they can throw me an email at [email protected]. We have a great website thegonzoexperience.com. They can reach me there as well and all social media we’re on you know, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.

 

You know what? What am I forgetting everything right? Twitter. So, Myspace and I’m just kidding. But everything else we’re, we are there and hack. You know what? Want to give me a call? (585) 317-8254. I live to serve, and I’m here for you. So thank you for the opportunity. Stephen. You’re welcome, my friend. Thanks for coming back and teaching us about how to monetize your content.

 

And Onward Nation, no matter how many times you go back and listen to Dave’s words of wisdom, which I sure hope that you do. The key is, is that you have to take action on the litany of golden nuggets that he was so generous to share with you today. Take them, apply them into your business, and accelerate your results.

 

And Dave, we all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day, my brother, and thank you very much for saying yes and coming back for a fourth time to help us move our businesses onward that next level. And congratulations on doubling down on The Gonzo Experience. We wish you nothing but the best of success. Thank you so much.

 

Thank you. Stephen, I’ll look for my four times encore T-shirt in the mail. I appreciate that. Thanks again, Stephen. Appreciate you. 

 

This episode is complete, so head over to OnwardNation.com for show notes and more food to fuel your ambition. Continue to find your recipe for success here at Onward Nation.

 

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